No need to thank me for that mental image.

(Politico) — First lady Michelle Obama and her husband can only brace for the intensity of his reelection campaign by taking one day at a time, she said Tuesday.

“You know, there’s really no way to mentally prepare for it,” she said in an interview on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” which came as she visited Los Angeles for a handful of big-ticket fundraisers.

“You take each day as it comes. I think Barack and I, our motto is, you know, we try to do the best job that we can do every single day, and the hope is that that will speak for itself,” Michelle Obama said, according to excerpts released ahead of the show’s airing on the East Coast. “So, you know, we wake up every day. We think about what this country needs.”

Michelle Obama’s appearance included a segment devoted to her “Let’s Move!” initiative to promote healthy eating and exercise. The first lady encouraged Leno — not a healthy food fan — to taste a smorgasbord of fruits and vegetables, including an apple. Leno said he hadn’t had one since 1984, and Obama encouraged him to dip it in some White House honey to “help it go down easier.”

“’White House honey.’ That sounds bad. You know, with a different president that could mean a whole different thing, ‘a little White House honey,’” Leno cracked.

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Remember all the 15-year-old Tea Party kids killing their parents? Yeah, me neither.

(Daily Telegraph) — A 15-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murdering his adoptive parents after reportedly arguing with them over how much time he was spending at an Occupy protest camp.

Robert Kamin, 55, and Susan Poff, 50, were found strangled under blankets in a car outside their home in Oakland, California.

Police believe someone then tried to set fire to the car which was charred.

Friends and relations said the couple had worked tirelessly for the poor, and adopted because they wanted to help a disadvantaged child. Their adopted son was a black belt in karate and played violent video games.

Mr Kamin, a graduate of Stanford University, was a clinical psychologist working with prison inmates in San Francisco jails.

Ms Poff, a Berkeley graduate, was a doctor’s assistant who worked with the homeless.

Colleagues told the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper that the couple had been having difficulties with their son and some of that was to do with him spending too much time at the Occupy Oakland encampment.

Oakland has been a flashpoint in the nationwide series of Occupy protests. At the weekend, almost 400 people were arrested during a series protests.

When the Center For American Progress’ best spin blames only 35% on Bush then you know it’s pretty much all Obama’s doing.

(Washington Examiner) — Most of the soaring $1 trillion federal deficit is the blame of President Obama’s spending and political deals according to a pro-Obama think tank that pegged former President George W. Bush’s responsibility at just 35 percent.

While opening its analysis by blaming Bush and showing pictures of Senate GOP leaders, the Center for American Progress said that the other 65 percent of the deficit surge came on Obama’s watch, a combination of high spending, extension of the Bush tax cuts and additional defense spending.

“The analysis reveals that events that occurred before January 2009, including the onset of the Great Recession and increased spending—especially on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—attributed to 35 percent of the swing from surplus to deficit,” said the center founded by long-time Obama advisor John Podesta.

“The remainder of the deterioration did happen after 2009, but mostly because of lower-than-expected revenues. While some of the decline in revenue resulted from the continued economic weakness, the majority of it, about $335 billion, is the direct result of the tax deal signed into law in December 2010, which extended all of the Bush tax cuts,” said the group.

Big day for the heroes of the working class.

(ABC News) — President Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are all stumping for cash at fundraisers today – expected to raise at least $5.3 million combined for Democrats and the president for the 2012 campaign.

Obama will mingle with 50 supporters at the St. Regis Hotel in Washington tonight, where tickets start at $35,800 per person, a campaign official told ABC News.  Then he’ll attend a fundraising dinner at a private residence in Chevy Chase, Md., with 70 guests. Tickets are $35,800 per couple for the exclusive event as well.

Meanwhile, both Michelle Obama and Biden have been outside Washington, delivering their re-election pitches on the road.

The first lady will spend the evening fundraising at a private residence in Beverly Hills, Calif., with 135 supporters each contributing $5,000 or more to the Obama Victory Fund. (She is also taping an episode of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” that will air tonight.)

Biden traveled to Texas to collect checks, first stopping at the Historic Hilton in Fort Worth, where 200-plus guests paid $5,000 each to see him speak. He later hosted an event at the Billy Hall Bend Ranch in Dekalb with 20 supporters. Tickets there began at $35,800 per person.

Another bankrupt “progressive” utopia.

(SacBee) — California will run out of cash by early March if the state does not take swift action to find $3.3 billion through payment delays and borrowing, according to a letter state Controller John Chiang sent to state lawmakers today.

The announcement is surprising since lawmakers previously believed the state had enough cash to last through the fiscal year that ends in June.

But Chiang said additional cash management solutions are needed because state tax revenues are $2.6 billion less than what Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers assumed in their optimistic budget last year. Meanwhile, Chiang said, the state is spending $2.6 billion more than state leaders planned on.

The Assembly budget committee approved a bill today that would enable $865 million of borrowing from existing state accounts, Senate Bill 95. Chiang, after consultation with the Department of Finance and state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, is also seeking about $2.4 billion in delayed payments to universities, counties and Medi-Cal, as well as additional borrowing from outside investors.

He’s the weakest incumbent in God knows how long and our nominee is looking like it will be . . . Mitt Romney. Makes me want to hurl.

(USA Today) — President Obama had a 50% or more approval rating last year in only 10 states, plus the District of Columbia — all blue states, Gallup reports.

In his 10 worst states, Obama’s average approval ratings were 36.5% or lower — though those are Republican red states.

Throughout the nation, Obama saw higher 2011 approval ratings in only three states: Wyoming, Connecticut and Maine. But there were declines of less than 1 percentage point in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Jersey, Arizona, West Virginia, Michigan and Georgia.

Republicans, of course, are trumpeting the new Gallup report.

“The president’s approval has gone down in every swing state Obama needs to win in November,” said a release from the Republican National Committee.

Some much needed good news.

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation’s leading breast-cancer charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, is halting its partnerships with Planned Parenthood affiliates — creating a bitter rift, linked to the abortion debate, between two iconic organizations that have assisted millions of women.

The change will mean a cutoff of hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants, mainly for breast exams.

Planned Parenthood says the move results from Komen bowing to pressure from anti-abortion activists. Komen says the key reason is that Planned Parenthood is under investigation in Congress — a probe launched by a conservative Republican who was urged to act by anti-abortion groups.

The rupture, which has not been publicly announced as it unfolded, is wrenching for some of those who’ve learned about it and admire both organizations.

“We’re kind of reeling,” said Patrick Hurd, who is CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Virginia — recipient of a 2010 grant from Komen — and whose wife, Betsi, is a veteran of several Komen fundraising races and is currently battling breast cancer.

HT: Maggie

Next up, Mormon-heavy Nevada.

(ABC News) — Mitt Romney will win the Florida Republican primary, ABC News projects, based on the exit polls and analysis of the vote in so far.

Newt Gingrich will be second, Rick Santorum third and Ron Paul will place fourth, ABC News projects.

Romney appeared to win most of the state’s southern and central region, while Gingrich’s support was concentrated in the north.

The former Massachusetts governor’s debate performance last week and negative ad campaign against chief rival Gingrich helped him win in the Sunshine State

Heartless monsters.

(The Hill) — House Republicans don’t want Uncle Sam paying for any more lap dances.

A bill that GOP leaders are bringing to the House floor Wednesday would require states to prevent welfare recipients from accessing or spending their benefits at strip clubs, casinos and liquor stores.

Republicans included the proposal in the payroll tax bill the House passed in December, and they are bringing it back up for a vote separately as part of a package of bills they want included in a final agreement extending the payroll tax cut and other measures through 2012.

Rep. Charles Boustany Jr. (R-La.), the chief sponsor of the strip-club loophole bill, said in an interview that the legislation was a response to press reports that recipients of benefits under the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program were using state-issued debit cards containing the funds for gambling, alcohol and adult entertainment.

“It’s pretty rampant around the country,” Boustany said of the abuses. “This has really eroded the credibility of the TANF program in the eyes of the American taxpayer — a program that has been successful, by and large.

Giddy up.

(Politico) — House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) threatened Tuesday to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress if the Justice Department did not provide certain documents in response to the committee’s subpoena.

In a letter to Holder, Issa wrote that “this committee will have no alternative but to move forward with proceedings to hold you in contempt of Congress” if Holder and the DOJ didn’t produce documents they demanded relating to the Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal.

Holder has until Thursday, Feb. 9. to comply, according to Issa.

Issa accused the Justice Department of trying to “obstruct our investigation and deceive the public” by withholding documents.

“Your actions lead us to conclude that the department is actively engaged in a cover-up,” he said in a four-page letter.

He feels our pain.

Via RCP:

White House press secretary Jay Carney says President Obama “gets to experience the American economy through the eyes of folks out there who are living it” when he reads 10 letters every night that are selected for him. Transcript below, from today’s briefing.

Q Thanks, Jay. A couple topics, please. I wanted to follow up first on the exchange the President had yesterday during the Google+ town hall with Jennifer Wedel — if I’m pronouncing her name correctly. He, at the end of that exchange, asked to get her husband’s résumé to help him out. Is this something that he plans to do now when he campaigns and hears people’s individual stories, to get down to that level of collecting résumés? Is that something that he thinks is part of the job of President?

MR. CARNEY: Well, I think he very much enjoys and looks forward to talking to regular Americans out in the country. Yesterday’s interview was an opportunity to do that in a unique way here from the White House in a virtual gathering.

Much as he does when he reads the letters that are culled for him from Americans every night, he gets to experience the American economy through the eyes of folks out there who are living it, and that was the case in this exchange yesterday. So I think it just reflects his deep interest in the individual stories that Americans have about their lives, how they’re experiencing the economy in different parts of the country. And he will certainly have that kind of engagement, as he has in the past, going forward.

Keep reading w/video

The scourge of Barbie continues to plague Iran.

(MEMRI) — Following are excerpts from an interview with Majid Qadiri, head of the toy department at the Iranian Center for Early Childhood Development, which aired on Al-Alam TV on January 25, 2012:

Majid Qadiri: [Toys] have an evident influence on children. [It is harmful] to dress dolls in the best clothes of the best quality, in keeping with the culture that children see in cartoons and in the cinema. But if these are in keeping with our national and Islamic ideology, [our children] will not be subject to a cultural invasion.

This is what the Islamic world is dealing with today. It has been invaded by foreign dolls and toys, like Barbie dolls and others, which are sold to children. These dolls should not be bought, because they have an impact on the mentality of children, and when these children reach adolescence and can choose for themselves, they will find themselves in a situation where the invading culture is dominant.

Interviewer: You mentioned, for example, Barbie dolls, which are very popular in our society. How have the dolls you manufacture been received by children and parents?

Majid Qadiri: We concentrate on making Iranian dolls. It should be pointed out that it is forbidden to bring Barbie dolls into this country. We don’t want to import other dolls to Iran either. If you find these dolls in Iranian markets, they must have been smuggled in. We want to create an environment that is appropriate for children, in which they can benefit from playing with dolls with value in the cultural sense. This can give a boost to culture among children, who will not be influenced by the imported culture.

She know something we don’t?

Via The Hill:

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told a crowd of top Hollywood fundraisers that Democrats have “a real chance” to retake control of the House in 2012, according to a report in the Hollywood Reporter.

Pelosi met with a group of more than 50 fundraisers and consultants Monday at the house of Haim Saban, the billionaire television producer who leads the ownership group of Spanish-language television network Univision.

“They identified between 50 and 75 seats that are definitely vulnerable,” one attendee told the Reporter. “They went through each of the races. It was truly one of the more focused presentations that I’ve seen.”

The stench of failure continues to surround Obama.

WASHINGTON – House Republicans are expanding their probe into the Obama administration’s energy programs, investigating $500 million in green job training grants that placed just 10% of trainees in jobs, according to a government report.

The program’s goal was to train 124,893 people and put 79,854 in jobs. But 17 months later, 52,762 were trained and 8,035, or roughly 1 in 10, had jobs. Those numbers come from an audit by the Department of Labor’s inspector general, which recommended that the administration end the program and return unspent money.

President Obama has made green jobs a cornerstone of his economic agenda. In his first 2012 campaign ad this month, he said clean energy industries created 2.7 million jobs and were “expanding rapidly.” But Republicans have pounced on failures, such as the bankruptcy of Solyndra, a solar panel maker backed with a Department of Energy loan guarantee.

Citing what he calls “abysmal results” in the job training program, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., is demanding answers about how the Department of Labor awarded the grants, which were funded out of the 2009 stimulus bill.

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